Apertured display board and hardware therefor



L. H. KING March 21, 1967 APERTURED DISPLAY BOARD AND HARDWARE THEREFORFiled Oct. 15, 1965 FlG. l

(prlor art) Fl I4B INVENTOR. LEONARD H. KING United States Patent3,310,271 APERTURED DISPLAY BEARD AND HARDWARE THEREFOR Leonard H. King,67 Southgate Road, Valley Stream, N.Y. 11581 Filed Oct. 15, 1965, Ser.No. 496,398 15 Claims. (Cl. 248-225) This invention relates to displayboards and in particular to that class of board known as an aperturedboard and to hardware for use therewith.

Apertured boards are in common use for the display and storage of toolsand other articles. Generally they comprise a sheet of resin-bonded woodchips or other synthetic composition. A plurality of round holes areformed therein, the holes generally being of inch diameter. Hooks andvarious other clamps to support the tools or articles are hung in theholes. These hooks are formed of A; inch steel wire.

One common fault of this type of installation is that the hooks have avery short arcuate engaging portion in order to permit them to passthrough the hole. Accordingly, any slight jarring tends to dislodge thehooks, making them a nuisance to use. Various devices have been proposedto overcome this fault, but as far as is known none have been whollysuccessful. For example, auxiliary spring clips of light gage wire areused to hold the hooks in place.

The present invention provides an apertured board having novelappearance in that an elongated slot is employed in lieu of thecustomary round hole. In combination therewith, a hook member having across member key at the end is used. The cross member is sized to fit inthe elongated slot and to lock against the back of the apertured boardwhen either angularly turned or otherwise moved relative to theaperture, thereby preventing the hook from falling out. The presentdevice is inexpensive to manufacture, need not cost any more thanpresent devices, and yet overcomes the faults of the prior art device.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improvedapertured board.

It is another object to provide an apertured board having a novelappearance.

A particular object is to provide an apertured board having elongatedholes in lieu of the conventional round holes.

Still another object is to provide an apertured board having elongatedholes arrayed in a horizontal or vertical pattern or in a combination ofhorizontal and vertical patterns.

A further object is to provide an apertured board wherein the elongatedholes have either a straight or irregular periphery or a combination ofstraight and irregular portions.

A different object is to provide an apertured board having aself-locking hook member.

A still further diiferent object is to provide a self-locking hookmember for the above mentioned type of apertured board.

Another object is to provide an improved, hook member having an integrallocking member.

A further object is to provide an integral locking member parallel tothe axis of the hook member.

An additional object is to provide an integral locking member transverseto the axis of the hook member.

Still another object is to provide an integral locking member disposedat an angle to the axis of the hook member.

Yet another object is to provide an improved hook member having asecondary key member integral therewith.

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These and other features, objects and advantages of the invention will,in part, be pointed out with particularity and will, in part, becomeobvious from the following more detailed description of the invention,taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing which forms anintegral part thereof.

In the various figures of the drawing like reference charactersdesignate like parts.

Referring now to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in elevation of a prior art apertured board showing thehook mounted therein;

FIG. 2 is a sectional, elevational view taken along lines 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows one embodiment of the present invention in perspective;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of an improved apertured boardshowing the hook member of FIG. 3 in two positions;

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of an alternative apertured boardconfiguration;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of an alternative embodiment of theimproved hook member;

FIG. 7 is a front elevational view of another alternative configurationof the improved apertured board;

FIG. 8 is a front elevational view of still another alternativeconfiguration of the improved apertured board;

FIG. 8A is a pictorial view of an alternative embodimerit of theimproved hook member;

FIG. 9 is a side elevational view of still another alternativeembodiment of the improved hook member;

FIG. 10 is a sectional plan view taken along line 1010 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a sectional plan view taken along line 11-11 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 is a front elevational view of yet another universalconfiguration of the improved apertured board;

FIG. 13 is a front elevational view of another, universal hook member;and

FIG. 14A and FIG. 14B are pictorial and side elevational views,respectively, of alternative slide-type hook members.

Referring now to the drawing, in FIGS. 1 and 2 there is shown aconventional prior art hook and apertured board. The apertured board 10'is a composition sheet having a plurality of round holes 12 formedtherein. The hook member 14 is generally in the shape of a I or an Lhaving its upper end terminating in a short, offset leg 16 adapted to beslipped through one of the holes 12 and having the other lower endterminating in a longer bend 18. Typically, the front surface of leg 16is spaced from the rear surface of the body portion of the hook inch foruse with an apertured board having the usual inch thickness. The otherdimensions. of a typical hook would be as follows:

L equals 1 /2 inches. E equals /2 inch. F equals inch.

It will be appreciated that because of the shortness of leg 16, and theneed for the spacing between the offset leg and the rear surface of theapertured board, this hook is readily dislodged from the aperture board.

On the other hand, the present invention utilizes a hook 20 ofsubstantially the same dimension but, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in lieuof the simple leg 16, there is provided a key member 22 integral withand perpendicular to the axis of body portion 24. Apertured board 26(FIG. 4) is provided with a plurality of vertically disposed elongatedslots 28 dimensioned to receive the key member when the hook is held inhorizontal position (a). When the hook is released, it drops andautomatically assumes position (b) with key member 22 securelypositioned behind the rear surface of the apertured board. It should bepoined out that the width W of the key member is substantially the samesize as the length D of slots 28 and somewhat larger than dimension 0.(FIG. 4). Accordingly, the embodiment of the hook shown in FIG. 3 couldbe used with apertured board 26 wherein the slots have straight sidewalls and end walls. The same hook could also be used with aperturedboard 30 shown in FIG. which has a plurality of vertically aligned slots32 having straight side walls and rounded end walls.

Another embodiment of the hook member is shown in FIG. 6. Hook member 34has a vertically disposed key member 36 parallel to the axis of bodyportion 38. To utilize this embodiment, apertured board 4t (FIG. 7) isprovided with a plurality of horizontally disposed oval slots 42 definedby spacedly opposed end walls having a small radius of curvature andspacedly opposed side walls having a larger radius of curvature.Dimension (D) is substantially the same size as width W of the keymember 36 and dimension d is somewhat smaller than width W. Thisembodiment of the hook member also requires that it be inserted into theapertured board in a horizontal position and be allowed to assume thevertical position to be locked.

While the hook member 34 has been described as being usable with theapertured board of FIG. 7, it is evident that it may also be utilized inconjunction with apertured board 44 (FIG. 8) which has a plurality ofrectangular slots 46. Apertured board 44- includes the additionalfeature of an arcuate notch 48 in the side walls of each slot. The notchis a portion of a diameter equal to the circular cross section of thehook member body portion. Thus, means are provided for preventinglateral movement of the hook since the length of the hook between thebody portion and the key member is seated in the notch when the hookmember is assembled to the apertured board. While a notch 48 is requiredonly in the bottom side edge of each slot, two opposed notches are shownso that the apertured board may be oriented in either of two ways withthe slots horizontal. Also, the symmetry of two opposed notches may bepreferred for esthetic reasons. Further, the use of the two opposedslots and a central notch permits the employment of a heavier gage hookmember without a corresponding reduction in area of the supportingapertured board. Thus, as shown in FIG. 8A, shank 47 is sized to matewith notch 48 and key 49 is of a much smaller dimension w, suitable forpassing through slot 46 having width d. It is of course understood thatif slots 46 were oriented 90 from that shown, the key 49 would also beoriented 90 from the position illustrated.

FIG. 9 illustrates a modified hook member 50'. Whereas the key portionin FIG. 6 was formed by a bending operation, key portion 52 of bookmember 50 is formed by deforming the material in a plane perpendicularto body portion 54, such as by swaging. A secondary perpendicularlyaligned key 56 may also be swaged in body portion 54. When mounted onthe apertured board, key member 52 will engage a slot therebelow tominimize lateral movement of the hook member. Apertured boards 26 and 30will both accommodate hook member 50 which is mounted in the same manneras hook member 20.

While the embodiments of the hook members discussed thus far have beenassociated with particular slot shapes, it should be clearly understoodthat the invention is not so limited. Thus, the slots of any oneapertured board could assume the shape of any other apertured boardslots. However, there is up to this point the limitation thatperpendicular key members must be used with apertured boards mounted sothat the slots are vertical and parallel key members must be used withapertured boards so that the slots are horizontal. In each instance, the

hook member must be angularly turned after inserting to achieve locking.

FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 illustrate a universal apertured board and hookmember, respectively. Apertured board 58 is comprised of a plurality ofvertically disposed slots 60 and a plurality of horizontally disposedslots 62. As mentioned hereinabove, the slots may have the shape shownin any of the embodiments, but for convenience they are shown asrectangles with straight side and end walls. It will be noted, however,that the slots are arranged in a repetitive geometric pattern whereby,regardless of the orientation of the board, horizontal and verticalslots are always presented so that any of the aforementioned hook memberembodiments may be employed. However, it is contemplated that auniversal hook member 64 be used. Key member 66 is disposed at an angleto the axis of the body portion 68. Thus, a single hook member could beused in any of the slots re gardless of their orientation. Of course,something less than a 90 turn is required to lock the hook member inplace.

Yet another book member 70 is illustrated in FIG. 14A. Body portion 72is formed with a contiguous key member defined by a reverse bend havinglegs 74a and 74b. The key member is disposed in a plane at a right angleto the plane of the longitudinal axis of the body portion and is offsetto one side thereof. Whereas hook member 70 is utilized with ahorizontal slot, a modification thereof, hook member 70' is shown inFIG. 14B. The key member is defined by a reverse bend comprising legs74a and 74b contiguous with and disposed in a plane parallel to bodyportion 72. In the last mentioned embodiment, one of the legs of the keymember is disposed behind the apertured board and one is positioned infront in the assembled condition. By making the length W of the rearwardleg the same length as the longer dimension D of the slot, thetwist-to-lock action is not needed since it is only necessary to slidethe hook to the lefthand end of a horizontal slot or to the bottom endof a vertical slot. The scope of the present invention encompasseseither a right or a left side opening hook member 70.

While the embodiment of FIG. 14B bears a superficial resemblance to theprior art shown in FIG. 2, it does point out an important feature of thepresent invention. The prior art required apertures larger than thediameter of the hook member so that the short oifset leg 16 could easilybe inserted. However, this resulted in the hooks hanging loosely wherethey were likely to be dislodged. The present invention avoids this byproviding a snug fit between the key member and the planar surfaces ofthe apertured board. Dimension t in each embodiment is substantially thesame as the thickness of the apertured board whereas in the prior art, aconsiderable dilference in comparable dimensions was required. The keymember in each embodiment is inserted as described and then displacedrelative to the slot either by turning or sliding. Because a generousclearance is not required to insert the hook member, a tight fit isobtained when the hook is finally positioned.

Having thus disclosed the best embodiments of the invention presentlycontemplated, it is to be understood that various changes andmodifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departingfrom the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. An improved apertured board for use with removable, articlesupporting hooks, said apertured board comprising a plurality ofelongated, noncircular apertures having a length dimension greater thana width dimension, the apertures being arrayed in a repetitive pattern,each of the apertures being defined by a pair of spaced, arcuate sidewalls and a pair of spaced, arcuate end walls, said end walls having asmaller radius of curvature than said side walls, the dimension betweensaid end walls being 5 substantially greater than the dimension betweensaid side walls.

2. A book member adapted to support an article on'a board having aplurality of elongated, noncircular apertures each of which is definedby a pair of spaced side walls and a pair of spaced end walls, said hookmember comprising:

(a) a first portion adapted to support an article;

(b) a body member having first and second ends, said first end beingintegral with said first portion; and

(c) a key member integral with said second end of said body member, anddisposed in a plane between and 90 with respect to the plane of the axisof said body member, said key member being adapted to pass through anaperture of a board and be locked therebehind.

3. Article supporting means comprising, in combination:

(A) a board having a plurality of elongated, noncircular apertures eachhaving a length dimension greater than a width dimension, said aperturesbeing arrayed in a repetitive pattern, each of the apertures beingdefined by a pairof spaced, arcuate side walls and a pair of spaced,arcuate end walls, the dimension between said end walls beingsubstantially greater than the dimension between said side walls, saidend walls having a smaller radius of curvature than said side walls; and

(B) a hook member comprising:

(a) a first portion adapted to support an article;

(b) a body member having first and second ends,

said first end being integral with said first portion; and

(c) a key member integral with said second end of said body member, saidkey member having a dimension substantially greater than the dimensionbetween said aperture side walls and slightly less than the dimensionbetween said aperture end walls, said key member passing through anaperture of said board and being locked therebehind.

4. The device in accordance with claim 2 wherein said key member issubstantially thinner than said body memher.

5. The device in accordance with claim 2 wherein said key member iscontiguous with said body member and is defined by a pair ofsubstantially parallel, confrontingly opposed legs spaced from eachother, said legs being disposed in a plane perpendicular to the plane ofsaid body member and when mounted on an apertured board, one of saidlegs is disposed in front of the board, the other of said legs beingpositioned behind the board.

6. The device in accordance with claim 2 wherein said key member iscontiguous with said body member and is defined by a pair ofsubstantially parallel, confrontingly opposed legs spaced from eachother, said legs being disposed in a plane parallel to the axis of saidbody member.

7. The device in accordance with claim 2 wherein said key member iscontiguous with said body member and is defined by a double thicknessleg, the thicknesses being in abutment with each other and the axisthereof being disposed in a plane parallel to the axis of said bodymember.

8. The device in accordance with claim 2 wherein said key member iscontiguous with and of thinner cross section than said body member, saidkey member being disposed in a plane parallel to the axis of said bodymember. 9. The device in accordance with claim 3 wherein said key memberis disposed in a plane between 0 and with respect to the plane of theaxis of said body member.

10. The device in accordance with claim 3 wherein said lgey member issubstantially thinner than said body mem- 11. The device in accordancewith claim 3 wherein said key member is contiguous with said body memberand is defined by a pair of substantially parallel, oonfrontinglyopposed legs spaced from each other by the same dimen sion as thethickness of said apertured board said legs being disposed in a planeperpendicular to the plane of said body member and when mounted on saidboard, one of said legs is disposed in front of said board, the other ofsaid legs being positioned behind said board.

12. The device in accordance with claim 3 wherein said key member iscontiguous with said body member and is defined by a pair ofsubstantially parallel, confrontingly opposed legs spaced from eachother by the same dimen sion as the thickness of said apertured board,said legs being disposed in a plane parallel to the axis of said bodymember.

13. The device in accordance with claim 3 wherein said key member iscontiguous with said body member and is defined by a double thicknessleg, the thicknesses being in abutment with each other and disposed in aplane parallel to the axis of said body member.

14. The device in accordance with claim 3 wherein said key member iscontiguous with and of thinner cross section than said body member, saidkey member being disposed in a plane parallel to the axis of said bodymember.

15. The device in accordance with claim 3 including a second key memberintegral with said body member and facing in a direction opposite tosaid first portion, said second key being arranged to engage an aperturedirectly beneath the aperture in which said first key is disposed.

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CLAUDE A, LE ROY, Primary Examiner,

1. AN IMPROVED APERTURED BOARD FOR USE WITH REMOVABLE, ARTICLESUPPORTING HOOKS, SAID APERTURED BOARD COMPRISING A PLURALITY OFELONGATED, NONCIRCULAR APERTURES HAVING A LENGTH DIMENSION GREATER THANA WIDTH DIMENSION, THE APERTURES BEING ARRAYED IN A REPETITIVE PATTERN,EACH OF THE APERTURES BEING DEFINED BY A PAIR OF SPACED, ARCUATE SIDEWALLS AND A PAIR OF SPACED, ARCUATE END WALLS, SAID